Story & photo by Rizal Raoul Reyes | @brownindio
SHE wanted to bring a part of Manila with her to Cagayan de Oro (CdO). And Celine Velez Palomares did.
The 33 year old brought with her her good memories of ECHOstore at the Bonifacio Global City.
“I just happened to pass by that store,” she said. Before she knows it, she became a regular habitué of a boutique chain that offers a unique mix of social responsibility and food. She immediately set a meeting with ECHOstore founder Pacita Juan.
After two years, and soon after, I spoke with Chit [Juan], “and thus started my entrepreneurial journey,” Palomares added in an e-mail to the BusinessMirror.
Ode to the past
PALOMARES comes from an old prominent family in CdO, and her maternal grandmother influenced her in dreaming big. Her mother, a teacher by profession, taught her the training skills she has. And her father must have affected her entrepreneurial aspirations.
The Velez family of CdO and the Palomares clans have made Celine a social register of sorts in the city. She is also passionate about networking.
Another interesting development is the house Palomares and her friends found for the store. It’s the ancestral home of the Neri-Cabe family and where most of the family’s scions were born and raised. It’s a two-story structure on Domingo Velez Street and is about a hundred years old. The floors are beautiful Narra planks, and the walls and windows look like one stepped out of Noli Me Tangere, she said.
Palomares added the presence of an ECHOstore branch allows the people of CdO to pursue a healthy lifestyle by eating fresh vegetable salads from nearby farms in Bukidnon and the freshest produce from just around CdO.
Moreover, the ECHOstore founders even trekked with Palomares to Dahilayan, Bukidnon, to check out the biodynamic farms and the supply of grass-fed cows’ beef, and black pigs who feed on vegetables, rather than grain. They also tasted the soy milk and the vegetarian options available in the city.
Nuts and halal
WITH the many tourists flocking to CdO from Bukidnon and from Iligan City, Palomares said her business is assured of new customers and referrals from her regular customers who bring their friends along. To promote inclusive growth in the province, she has also started sourcing local products, like laing, cashew nuts and even some halal products.
“And this is the idea behind the ECHOstore sustainable lifestyle business model: look for community influencers who live the lifestyle,” Juan explained. “Make sure they work to include the producers and small suppliers in the supply chain. And source other products through the ecosystem already built by the founders since eight years ago.”
The ECHOstore now has branches in Cebu City. There is a new one that opened in Ayala Center to supplement the flagship in Streetscape on Maria Luisa Drive, near the exclusive enclave of Cebu’s prominent families.
Natural choices
TRANSFORMING from sales agent to entrepreneur, Celine has started a journey to influence her community in CdO through healthy eating and living with better, natural choices.
“I’m happy my family is behind my business venture,” Palomares explained.
In the end, any business can only succeed if one has support from friends and family to begin with. And Palomares is surely on that path right now. Add to that the help she gives to small producers from the area, as well as the many communities ECHOstore’s supply chain supports.
“I could have chosen to just get employed in a 9-to-5 job, and you need not take your challenges home,” she said. But this social enterprise gives her more fulfilment.
“I feel good that our store is able to help people change to healthier lifestyles while helping our suppliers find regular markets.”